The TAZD is a Pearson's chi-square distribution against a zero datum, multiplied by the square root of the number of games played. The zero datum is the same as before:
07.2 07.9 10.2 14.0 17.5 20.3 22.9

as the distribution of percentages.

At least 60 regular games played per month is needed to qualify for the yearly TAZD, so, to win, you needed 720.

Here are some additional scoring systems to the TAZD, including TAZD*, ASRm, and ASR. They are all preferable to base TAZD because they reward skill rather than just deviance from a defined middle point.

Specifically, a win (first place) could actually make your TAZD score go DOWN. In all the other systems it would make your score increase (or stay the same due to rounding.)

There are other issues with the TAZD that have been hilighted in the forum numerous times already.

Kudos to chloe for pulling all this together and publishing all her formulae and results. Due to the shortcomings of the plain TAZD, part of what goes on needs to be kept secret, but it's not the case with these. Security through obscurity is not necessary.

Here's Chloe's post, plus rankings:

Just say so if you'd like to join. If you have any questions about calculations or anything, just ask, and I'll happily answer. Suggestions are also always welcome and listened to. In fact! Monte recently suggested normalising the percentage profiles so everyone is on even footing- since not everyone's percentage profiles add to the same number. It's a small change, but it's an important one in my opinion.

An average of 35 games per month are required.

Unless someone specifically requests otherwise, I'll also include everyone in the yearly TAZD*. So far, I've included everyone with sufficient games that joined up to June. I'll add in the later entries soon. If you'd like to be removed, just say so, and I'll take you out no questions asked.

I got un-dumb and changed from manually summing products to using the SUMPRODUCT function in excel, but google docs apparently can't handle fixed references in its SUMPRODUCT calculation, hence the #VALUE! errors. Everything works fine in the original excel document, which I'd be happy to email to anyone who wants it.

1. Introduction
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As long as there are no official team tables with 6 seats, we will accept team games on normal tables, provided some elementary fair play rules are respected. These will of course be gentlemen agreements. Let’s all keep in mind that the aim of these team games is to play for fun. Team games cannot be used as a way of funneling points to a person going for a big medal.

2. Tables
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In theory any table can be used for team games. Since there is no good payout structure present for team games, 500 tables are the recommended table limit. You can fiddle with a domless 1st and stuff in the end to try and award all winning team members a reasonable amount of points.

For February, the following team tables were made. Sadly enough the 500 table that Alex made is broken:

http://www.kdice.com/#@TEAM_TABLE5 0 level 8 stack 36 territories

http://www.kdice.com/#@TEAM_TABLE1 100 level 8 stack 35 territories

http://www.kdice.com/#@TEAM_TABLE 2000 level 8 stack 33 territories

people can suggest good alternatives in the comments, so we can nominate a few possible team table names each month. Ideally the table names should be short and easy to remember.

3. General Rules
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*) No one can be bullied into joining these team games. Don’t let people sit and tell them it’s a team game after a game started. On the other hand people who agree to play a team game can not back out of it after the game started (if they didn’t take back their ok in before the game). You can try to persuade a player of course but excessive pressure could result in bans (please let’s not go there). No pge threats are allowed if someone refuses to play a team game.

*) If people sit at a team table and refuse to play a team game, you can ask them to leave but same rule applies as for the above. No excessive bullying, even if these people sit at an @team_table. If you want to play a team game and some normal players don’t want to leave, the team players have to change table.

*) If 4 or more team players changed table twice so they can try again on a new table and they are followed by the same people who refused to leave the previous table because they didn’t want to play a team game, a last friendly effort should be made to ask them to leave. If these players refuse to leave your new room, clearly trying to sabotage the team games, you can start a game and pge the troll team. You can even agree to play a mini team game after the trolls are killed. The team players can only take action on the third table they try and start a team game.

*) If someone does accidentally join a team game as teal for some reason and wants out, you can try and make an agreement where he/she will just sit and will be guaranteed a positive (or slightly negative at worst) score. If he doesn’t agree, a NORMAL individual game will have to be played.

*) Team games cannot be used to boost one particular player in each team. Roll offs in the end are highly recommended . Only if someone took a few big point hits in previous team games, sat as neutral in previous games (with a big point loss as a result), or agrees to sit neutral next game can the winning team chose to not roll for 1st place. A team has the option to agree on some + boni based on in game reasons (someone ended up really big or did most of the fighting). This should be limited to +3 or maybe +4. An agreement where 3rd gets all the dom and 1st gets none is also an option. It’s hard to enforce a clear roll off rule though. So for the sake of the fun of team games, we will have to hope that nobody will try and ruin the team concept by funneling. If the freedom that the winning team will be given to decide how places will be fairly determined is abused , the roll off might become mandatory.
*) Pges will have to set aside their differences if they want to play the same team game
*) Stabbing should be forbidden or at least not be tolerated by the community. There should be no flagging from one team member to people from the other team to save their skin, people can’t change sides or kill someone from their own team, etc.

4. Game Variants
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The standard 3v3 variant (copied from Veta’s thread)
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A) THE TEAMS (A & B) ARE MADE UP OF THREE (3) PLAYERS EACH

B) THE LAST PLAYER TO ATTACK (STARTING TURN) IS CONSIDERED THE NEUTRAL PLAYER. THAT IS TO SAY THAT PLAYER DOES NO ATTACK OR MOVE FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THE GAME
****The neutral player may move the first round in order to connect, but from there on no one will attack the neutral (except as a last option connect)

C) TEAMS ARE DECIDED RANDOMLY BY THEIR TURN. THE FIRST, THIRD, AND FIFTH PLAYERS WILL MAKE UP TEAM A. THE SECOND, FOURTH, AND SIXTH PLAYERS TO ATTACK WILL MAKE UP TEAM B. THE SEVENTH PLAYER TO ATTACK IS THE NEUTRAL.
****Example: Red starts. Red, Purple and Blue are on Team A. Then Green, Yellow, and Brown are on Team B. Teal is Neutral.

D) THE TWO TEAMS WILL FIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE GAME. THEY WILL AVOID HITTING THE NEUTRAL PLAYER, EXCEPT TO CONNECT. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE MAY YOU KILL THE NEUTRAL. THE NEUTRAL PLAYER WILL EARN AT MINIMUM FOURTH (4TH) PLACE; ABOVE THE LOSING TEAM; BELOW THE WINNING TEAM.
****Being neutral can suck. You will get 4th sometimes and no dom. But sometimes you may get 2nd or 3rd because the losing team knocked some players out for you. Keep that in mind and don't let it discourage you if you are designated neutral.
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The standard 3v4 variant
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This is a more simple variant and does not require a 7th neutral
First 3 players to start form Team A
Last 4 players to start form Team B @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

5 Suggestions:
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*) If you want to play team games on the lower tables, agree to which type of team game you are going to play before the start of the game. These tables can fill fast so make sure you have 7 people willing to play team games before you start a team game at a 0/100. If needed, open up a new table and sit fast.

*) If you don’t have 7 players yet , don’t have more than 4 people sitting, so you can inform the new sitters that you want to play a team game. One or more players can copy paste a standard line and post it when new players enter the room. Once you know there are 7 team players, the last 2 or 3 can quickly sit

example 1: "This will be a team game, meaning 4 players vs 3 players. The first team is the player to start first + the 2 seats after that. The second team are the 4 remaining players. Do not sit if you don’t agree or if you have questions."

*) Once the game starts, someone can type out the team setup. I suggest this because I have seen some team games start with a bit confusion as to who is in which team. So someone (you can nominate this person in advance) can type : “Team A: red green purple Team B: yellow blue brown teal” or “Team A = name1, name2, name 3 etc”. This suggestion is meant to remove confusion. So please don’t use this to misinform new players.

*) If a losing team concedes and asks to roll off for places, don’t kill anyone off. Grabbing their remaining dom is partly acceptable maybe but try and finish these games in a fun and positive atmosphere.

To qualify for the yearly TAZD competition, you must have played an average of 60 regular games per month, or to finish, 720 games.

The zero datum used was

07.2, 07.9, 10.2, 14.0, 17.5, 20.3, 22.9.

I have child-proofed the yearly TAZD, but I will not say in what way I have done it. The childproofing did not have to kick in in 2011.

***Special note: Actually the childproofing did kick in for Xar in the November standings, not because of any action of his, but by my compiling his January 2011 seventh place percentage as 14 instead of 14%. That happens if you don't include the final % sign when you capture the data with the mouse. Note that his final percentages added to 129%. Xar's corrected November standings should have been

1) Don't create threads that are entitled in a profane, obscene, racist, or otherwise obviously objectionable fashion. If posting such a thread would get you punished at home, school, or work, then you can expect that it will get you punished here.

2) If such a thread has been posted and a mod penalizes the poster, don't bump it. Especially do not bump it if the thread has fallen off the front page of the forums.

3) When posting in threads, please try to use some sense of decorum. Posts that are simply profanity-laden rants, insults, or suggestions that other players perform biologically improbable, unsanitary, or unsavory acts may be held to be actionable. Again, if your post would get you punished by your parent, expelled/suspended/sent to the principal's office at school, or fired from work, it may achieve the same result here. Individual posts inside threads will receive more leeway than objectionably entitled threads themselves, but not much.

4) Don't post walls of spam when leaving a negative review of another player.

Failure to follow these posting guidelines may result in warns or bans, not only for the alt you use to break the rules, but also for any other accounts that are identified as belonging to you.

Gameplay Guidelines:

The following is a partial list of proscribed actions/behaviors that will get you warned or banned. This is not a complete list. Do not think that, just because a specific item is not listed, that it is allowed. The spirit of the rules will be enforced, not just the letter of the rules. When in doubt about whether something is actionable, I would strongly advise you to err on the side of caution. One of the original rules that Ryan had for Kdice was to "be nice". If you are contemplating something that may give you an unfair advantage, it is probably not "nice" and may result in a warning or a ban. Be advised that penalties for illicit activities will be assessed against the player(s) engaging in the actionable activity, not simply against the alt(s) used at the time. If you get busted, the penalty will be applied to any and all accounts that are identified as belonging to you. My policy is that alts do not commit offenses, players do. If you commit a serious offense, then you should be punished across the board, not simply by having a throw-away alt banned.

1) Shared accounts are against the rules, so don't create or use them. Any account that is used by more than one individual, for whatever reason, is a shared account. Any account that is found to be shared will be permanently banned. In addition, all of the known accounts of the players determined to be using the shared account will be banned. This policy applies to both intentionally and inadvertently shared accounts, so protect your log-in data by keeping it secret. Don't give it out for any reason to anyone, unless you want the account (and all your other accounts) to be banned.

2) Don't steal, disseminate, or use other player's log-in data.

3) Don't create accounts that impersonate other players and appear to be intended to make other players believe that the original player is operating the fake.

4) Don't PGA. If you choose to play with your Old Trusted Friend (OTF), don't engage in team play with that person. Blatant, undisclosed OTF behavior is the same thing as PGA and is an punishable offense.

6) Don't conspire with other players to game the system and create a disadvantage to the general player population.

6) Don't use proxy IPs.

7) Don't funnel points.

8) Don't use exploits, loopholes, or hacks of any kind.

Note that none of the above rules or guidelines prohibit cut-throat playing. You are still free to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women. You want to farm? Cool. You want to back stab? Do it. You want to cut the crap out of someone. Have fun. You want to screw someone's game just for the hell of it? Indulge your wildest fancies. All of that is transparent, self-regulating, and within the bounds of the game.

However, if it is against the rules, DON'T DO IT. If you think that it might be against the rules, DON'T DO IT. You may very well get away with the scam for a long while, but if you are caught, you will suffer harsh consequences. If you choose to cheat, or to abuse the system in whatever fashion, then you do so with the full knowledge of what the punishment will be if you are caught.

Be advised that that my rulings and those of my fellow mods will always be subjective. When we make a ruling and take action, we are interpreting both the letter and the spirit of the rules. We will always seek to act impartially and fairly, but our interpretation of what is fair and impartial may differ from yours. Make your life (and ours) easier by simply playing fairly.

In the end, if you disagree with any ruling, you may always appeal to the ultimate arbiter of justice: Ryan.